Jogging Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

Jogging is really just a fancy word for a form of running, consisting of slowly and steadily focusing on maintaining a similar rhythm during longer distances, with intentions on building up stamina and resistance, while also a highly effective way of burning calories and to some extent losing weight, among the whole other number of positive stuff.

The benefits of jogging and its role and in one’s quest for a healthy lifestyle along with the eternal question “How to be healthy“, was rapidly popularized during the second half of the last century, probably as a counterweight against the almost parallel increase of the obesity rates in the world’s most developed countries.

So, the running i.e. jogging from a second nature of the earliest humans, crucial for their survival, through the ancient world and the mythical runner Pheidippides considered as a father of the marathon, through the middle ages, to this modern time, descended to a level where people have to constantly explain the benefits of jogging as one of the simplest, natural, elementary form of exercise. Isn’t that just downright sad…

But the cool thing is: it’s never really too late for you to engage in this fun activity. Although with aging the bone structure and the bone connecting ligaments lose their strength and flexibility, the jogging as a light exercise for maintaining the form and the fitness, is not only totally safe, but also recommended. Of course, with considerably lower intensity and duration.

As for the others, younger ones, there is just no excuse for you not doing it already.Why? Well, let’s see:

The benefits of jogging

Sheer satisfaction of doing a favor to your body.

It’s no secret that after long period of jogging, you feel satisfied, almost proud of yourself, while also keeping the positive mood, ending with a smile on your face. It’s all caused by a certain chemicals called endorphins, which can cause that cheer euphoria at the end.

Burning a lot of calories and possibly losing weight.

Jogging is in fact one of the most effective way of burning the excessive calories, and it’s certainly one of the most entertaining,together with swimming.It also puts you on good track with losing that extra pounds, but it will not be enough, to achieve this you must do just one little simple and paradoxically, herculean, task, try to keep the number of calories you burn, higher than the ones you consume. If that condition is not fulfilled, not even running for three years like Forrest Gump is going to help here.
With that in mind, mixing jogging with short sprinting is one of the best methods possible for fat loss. This high intensity interval exercise will additionally aid you in your battle with that annoying excessive fat.

Building up your stamina and resistance level while also toning the muscles.

There is not whole much explaining here, obviously the more you jog, the better for your stamina and body resistance, e.g. increased duration for the next jogging session.

It’s well known that jogging has a positive effect on these conditions, in fact it’s the one of the recommended exercises for this purpose.

As a cardio work out.

Your hearth will pump more blood and oxygen, which makes you feel fresh and full with energy. Also in order to kick start your cardio, you should try the new p90 workout.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, (apparently :|), so you should also take a look on the few potential bad things.

The potential health hazards:

There are multiple recommendations against running excessively long distances, i.e. more than 40 miles, as there are high risks for an injury. Simply said, DON’T jog more than that. Try to listen to your body signals, your body knows best when you should take a break.

Fainting can be caused by high intensity jogging, complemented with a lack of water and oxygen. It’s really just a simple matter of passing over your body limits again.

Joints pain, in your knees and/or ankles, the most common form of jogging injury. Something that can be quite painful, and really common amongst joggers.

Fortunately, one can always take some recommended precautionary measures in order to put the risk of injuries to the minimum. Which are they? Read along.

Minimizing the chance of any injury:

Regular hydration, small amounts of water every 15-20 minutes. Keep in mind that too much water before or during the jogging can cause some discomfort.

Breathing regularly, you should try finding your rhythm and synchronize the breathing with the speed of jogging.

Warming exercise before and after. For beginners it’s usually best to start the jogging with some walking, gradually speeding up and maintaining the tempo to the end, with a similar gradual slowing down, and walking for a couple of minutes until the final stop.

Everyone with some past injuries, especially on knees and ankles, should ask for doctor’s permission, because of the ever present risk of aggravating the injury. Or maybe consider starting it slow on a treadmill, should be considerably safer. But, again, your doctor’s opinion on the matter should come first.

Running shoes can lessen the impact of the foot with the ground and probably save you from some injuries or pain on the long term. Especially if you’re jogging on rough terrains.

And that’s about it. The first couple of weeks can be the most difficult, feeling somewhat uncomfortable that period, while the brain and the body are still accustoming to the new routine. The best thing you can do is to take somebody with you, jogging with someone else is so much funnier than jogging alone.

Although, there are certainly a bunch of people who prefer jogging alone, listening to music or some motivational speech on their phones or iPods… In the end, it doesn’t really matter, whatever rocks your boat. The benefits of jogging are just too valuable to simply be ignored.

And remember, it’s not just an opportunity for a healthy lifestyle, it’s an obligation towards your body, ergo yourself.

Have you been jogging before? How do you feel after it ? Share your opinion with us in the comments below.